There has been a need of and demand for a portable device that enables a person to lower oneself and/or raise oneself vertically without struggling in time of emergency as well as in leisure, which device is compact and light-weight enough to be carried around and deployed by a single person. High-rise office buildings and apartment buildings can be compared to an ocean liner without life beats, as present day high-rise buildings do not possess means and ways to rescue the occupants from serious fires which render stairways, elevators and other emergency exit means unusable. Of course, ladders on fire trucks can bring down the occupants located at the lower levels and helicopters can pluck off people from the top of the high-rise buildings. However, the efficiency and effectiveness of rescue operations using fire truck ladders and helicopters are highly questionable. The simple truth is that there is no means available in the United States today for rescuing occupants trapped in the middle levels of high-rise buildings during fire emergency. The present invention provides a self-sufficient device for lowering oneself from any level of a high-rise building without depending on any other people or institutions during an emergency, which device can be owned, stored and operated by the user himself. The apparatus of the present device can also be used by mountain climbers, spelunkers, outdoor activists, rescue crews, military, etc.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a compact and light-weight device for lowering oneself from an elevated structure.
Another object is to provide a device comprising a closed loop of cord wound on a cylinder with frictional braking means over a plurality of laps and depending therefrom wherein the speed of the lowering motion of one member of the closed loop of cord depending from the cylinder with frictional braking means is controllable with a small amount of pull exerted on the other member of the closed loop of cord depending from the cylinder with frictional braking means.
A further object is to provide a compact and light-weight device for lowering and raising oneself vertically.
Yet another object is to provide a vertical mobility system comprising a closed loop of cord wound on a cylinder with one way frictional braking means over a plurality of laps and depending therefrom wherein the speed of the lowering motion of one member of the closed loop of cord depending from the cylinder with frictional braking means is controllable with a small amount of pull exterted on the other member of the closed loop of cord depending from the cylinder with frictional braking means, while the lowering motion of the other member of the closed loop of cord is not frictionally braked by a tension exerted on the one member of the closed loop of cord.
Yet a further object is to provide a vertical mobility system comprising a harness secured to the one member of the closed loop of cord and a stirrup slidably secured to the other member of the closed loop of cord wherein the stirrup locks onto the other member of the closed loop of cord when the weight of the person supported by the harness is exerted on the sitrrup.
These and other objects of the present invention will become clear as the description thereof proceeds.